More than 1,500 police officers have been accused of violent offences against women and girls over a period of six months, and less than 1% have been sacked, according to new figures.
Overall, 1,483 unique allegations were reported against 1,539 police officers – or 0.7% of the workforce. There were 1,177 cases of alleged police-perpetrated violence, including sexual harassment and assault, reported between October 2021 and April 2022, according to data from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
Just over half the cases, 653 (55%), were conduct matters, which are usually raised by a colleague within the force. The remaining cases, 524 (45%), were complaints from the public.
Almost two-thirds of the complaints from the public were about the use of force, for example handcuffing or arrest, while 9% concerned harassing behaviour, 6% related to assault and 5% abuse of position for a sexual purpose.
For the conduct allegations, 48% concerned discreditable conduct carried outside working hours, while 19% related to sexual assault, 13% to sexual harassment and 6% to abuse of position for a sexual purpose.
Just under half the complaints and nearly three-quarters of the conduct cases still had not been finalised when the data was collected, but where cases had closed, 70% of conduct cases (136) and 91% of complaint cases (290) were thrown out, with just 13 officers and staff sacked for misconduct, and nobody fired as a result of public complaints.
The deputy chief constable Maggie Blyth, the National Police Chiefs’ Council coordinator for violence against women and girls, said she wanted to see more officers investigated, disciplined and sacked for crimes and misconduct against women and girls.
She said the figures “reinforce the urgency and importance of our current mission to lift the stones and root abusers and corrupt individuals out of policing. The vast majority of officers and staff are professional and committed but I know it is shocking to hear about any potential predators in policing and that this can further shake fragile trust.”
She added that the data was from a year ago and therefore did not reflect work done over the past 18 months to identify wrongdoing, strengthen misconduct investigations and toughen sanctions. She said she hoped that future iterations would show “the impact of those changes”, including giving more women the confidence to report concerns.
Publishing an annual assessment of police performance is a new step taken by the NPCC and College of Policing to improve responses to violence against women and girls, and to tackle rampant sexism and misogyny in the force.
The document notes that the figures in some areas, especially allegations of domestic abuse and inappropriate sexual behaviour, may be higher since many incidents go unreported, and there are some problems with recording processes, but it hopes it will be a tool for measuring progress.
The figures also shed light on the scale of violence against women and girls, which at more than half a million reported crimes represented 16% of all recorded crime from October 2021 and April 2022, with domestic abuse the most prevalent form.
Across the 40 police forces for which data was available, 428,355 cases had a recorded outcome, and a suspect was charged in just 6%. In most cases, there were problems with evidence or victims withdrew from the case.
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Farah Nazeer, the chief executive of Women’s Aid, said the statistics revealed “the staggering scale of violence against women and girls” and had “deeply worrying implications for women’s already low levels of trust in the criminal justice system”.
She called on the government to increase oversight of the criminal justice response to female survivors of violence to hold police forces, crime commissioners, probation and the courts to account and achieve “desperately needed transformation”.
The moves are part of efforts to tackle misogyny in policing after scandals including the case of David Carrick, a former police officer who was found to be a prolific sex offender, and the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer.
Police leaders have asked the Home Office to strengthen existing regulations, including barring anyone convicted or cautioned for this type of offence from policing and re-vetting anyone accused of these types of crimes. Chief constables are also encouraged to use accelerated misconduct hearings.
A national threat assessment of the scale of violence against women and girls is due to be made next month.